Mind Travel Is Time Travel

Often times we think that our days will be different, better, and brighter if our seemingly unbearable, and painful memories are erased. I’m sure we’ve all seen the post breakup scenes in movies, in which one tries to get rid of anything that reminds them of a former friend or special someone, thinking that losing memory of the painful past will set them on a new path and make everything better. However, I think that this assumption is not always true. “Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind” is a film about a couple running from the difficulties of love and relationships; both people end up seeking to erase their memories of the other that hurt them. As the memories were being erased, Joel and Clementine realized the value in their memories and went back in time to past memories to try to recapture them. Painful memories have value and should not be erased. Memories from a painful relationship are a gift even after the relationship that did not end so well. In this dreamlike, shifting film, it is revealed at some point that the quirky couple breaks apart. When Joel finds out that his ex-girlfriend erases him from her memory, he sets out to do the same. During the erasing process, Joel is now living inside of his memories and doesn’t like to watch them fade and tries to recapture them. By revisiting the good and bad memories, he realizes more about himself and the root of some of his personal issues. He also realizes how most of his memories were of good times that were shared with Clementine. Painful or not, memories are valuable. Erasing humiliating memories can turn out to be humiliating. When we are blind to the mistakes of our past, we are bound to repeat it again. In the film, the doctor who was the master of erasing memories had secrets exposed. The receptionist found out that her strong crush on her boss was stemmed in a past erased memory of her relations with the boss. To move on from his adulterous past, he erased the receptionist’s memory but also her dignity. Memory, in my opinion is a form of time travel, although it’s a quite blurry and sometimes unreliable. I think that memory is the closest we’ll literally get to relive the past, even though nothing is nearly as clear as the actual moment. Traveling through the mind or memory , which contains moments in time, is time travel. In Paradoxes of Time Travel, Lewis suggests that time travel is possible and in terms of memory, I agree. He also suggests that the purpose is often to change something of the past. Time Travel independent of recalling memory seems more impossible. My question: why isn’t the continuation of time enough to change the past? In other words, are not the present and the future a way to address the past and make things better? Other Time Travel Questions: If one is going back in time to try to stop genocide, for example, how can one assume that their actions alone will necessarily stop the genocide? Even if the leader is killed, if he is killed before he does this, is it right to kill him? Even if we would successfully stop some bad things of the past, are not there things in the present to keep from becoming painful memories?